*EDITED 15/11/2015*

A/N: I don't own Death Note. I only own my OCs.

I prefer this version so much better to the original. I have everything planned out, and I already have the ending written (needs tweaking since it was actually written for the original). I feel really motivated to get this fanfiction at the moment, hopefully I'll finish this one XD I'll try to update once every two weeks since I now go to college 3 days a week.

I hope you enjoy this version! Feel free to read the original, but that won't be updated again (or finished) for obvious reasons. Also, Manami was such a bitch in the last, so I decided to change how she acts (slightly) so she's more of a likeable character.

Thank you to Whovian Epic-chan who is my beta reader for this and edited any mistakes I had missed :D

Chapter One: Don't You Have Friends?

Thursday, 27th November 2003

I lean my head on my hand, my elbow propped upon the desk. I can't pay attention. Not that I really cared right now.

After twenty-five years of marriage, my parents had split up. Long story short, my mother cheated, my dad left and moved to a town three hours away. At least I didn't have to move, I don't know what I would do if I had to leave my friends behind. I've been friends with Michi-chan and Light-kun for as long as I can remember. Light-kun's been my neighbour for my whole life, and I had met Michi-chan on my first day of school. Michi-chan and Light-kun don't always get along. They never have and I don't think they ever will.

Since my parent's divorce six months ago, I haven't exactly been on the best of terms with my mother. We used to be close, until that day…

"Mana, I have something I need to say." She tells me. I look up from my book and fold the page that I am reading.

"Go ahead, Mum." I reply encouragingly. From her face, I can tell she's nervous. Had something bad happened?

"I-I cheated on your father. I'm afraid we're getting a divorce."

The memory of that day had almost been branded into my mind. I remember how I screamed at her for ruining everything. I remember how I had ran straight to Light-kun's house and cried in his arms.

You'd never think I am seventeen years old-

"Yoshikawa-san! Answer question three!" The teacher scolds me, noticing that I am not paying attention. Since the divorce, my grades have slipped ever so slightly.

I answer the question before going back to daydreaming.

My name is Manami Yoshikawa. My mother named me Manami as it means 'beautiful love.' Oddly enough, I was born on the fourteenth of February. I'm just your average seventeen year old, nothing special. I have below average grades average up until six months ago. I'm not that pretty. I'm plain looking. I'm quite short. Well, I'm shorter than Michi. My hair is brown and shoulder length. It refuses to grow any longer. I have boring brown eyes. No flecks of green or gold. Just plain brown, which is nothing special. Ugh.

I sit down in the library at a deserted table and pull out a book from my bag. I begin reading it before it is pulled from my grasp.

"Hey! I was reading!" I yell and glare at the only person who could have taken it – Light-kun.

"I know. I'm interested in what you're reading today." He gives me a teasing grin before handing me the book. I take it quickly and watch him closely in case he tries to take it again.

"Ask before taking! It's rude to just snatch things out of people's hands. I thought you'd know that, considering that you're the smartest boy in our year." I snap with a frown on my face. He smiles at me, and laughs at the expression on my face.

"I know, I know." He says, his hands up in front of him, his palms out towards me in surrender, his brown eyes shining with amusement. When he smiles in that way, I'm not surprised that nearly all the girls in this school fancy him. He's handsome. "Where's Kimura-san?"

Light-kun always calls Michi by her last name. She had never told him he could call her 'Michi,' so he's stuck calling her 'Kimura-san'. One time, a boy called her by her first name, and she slapped him. She says that her first name is reserved for family and close friends.

I shrug. "I guess she's with her friends." I stop staring at Light-kun and begin to read again. I stare at the words, but none of them sink in.

"Again? Did you two have an argument or something?" Light-kun asks. I shake my head while keeping my eyes locked on the book.

"One of her friends lost a relative or something." I murmur. I turn the page even though I haven't read it. I'll just go back to where I was later and actually read it when I'm not being spoken to.

"Why aren't you friends with her friends?" He asks curiously. I shrug.

"I guess I never tried talking to them." I mumble. "Don't you have any friends?"

"Of course, but I can't leave you on your own."

"Thank you," I look up and smile at him. He returns it.

"Our next lesson is about to start." Light-kun informs me. I sigh as I shut my lunchbox and put it in my bag with the book that I was pretending to read.

"Let's go then," I mumble tiredly and nod my head towards the door. I follow Light-kun out of the library and to our classroom where we spend the majority of our day in.

The remainder of the day passed by slowly. It was if time was mocking me. I hate it when days drag. When the final bell rang, I followed Light-kun out of the school building and we wandered home together as usual.

When we first joined the school, people thought we were already dating. They still don't believe us when we deny it to this day. I get it though. We spend a lot of time together; but that's only because we've been friends since we were little. And we've been neighbours our whole lives.

"Is your mum home?" Light-kun asks me, his brown eyes meeting my own. I shrug.

"No idea, probably shagging another co-worker." I grumble and look away. I kick a small pebble on the ground and dig my nails into the palms of my hands. Light-kun stays silent as we walk side-by-side down the street leading to our houses. I hear him sigh. I don't meant to snap at him. It's my mother's fault. If she hadn't cheated, everything would be okay. "I'm sorry," I whisper. I don't know if he heard, and if he did, he doesn't reply. As we get closer to our houses, I see my mother's car parked in the driveway. "Let's study at your house. Sachiko-san won't mind, would she?"

"No, of course not." Light-kun replies and we both walk to his house. He unlocks the front door swiftly and I follow him inside. "We're home!" He calls out. We kick our shoes off simultaneously and head up the stairs. Just as we reach the top, Sachiko-san, Light-kun's mother, calls out to us both.

"It's nice to see you, Manami." She greets me with a smile, which I return. Sachiko-san is practically my second mother. "How did you do on your test, Light?"

Light-kun pulls out a sheet of paper, no doubt containing his results on our practice university-exams. He passes it to his mother and she accepts the paper, her face lighting up when she sees Light-kun's results.

"You placed first! These practice-exams are nationwide as well!" She exclaims with a grin. I couldn't help but be slightly envious of Light-kun. He's so intelligent. I came twenty-eighth out of the whole country; I can't be too surprised since I do nothing but day-dream at school. Light-kun has tried tutoring me, he has tried for years but I'm just not that great when it comes to exams.

We then head up to his bedroom to study as we do most evening after-school. Since my parent's divorce, I have spent even more time here than I used to. As my mother works until seven every Friday, I have dinner here instead. At first, I did try cooking for myself, but I gave up after a few Fridays. I then decided to not eat on Friday evenings. Light-kun soon noticed when I stopped going to the shop after school to get food, and when he got me to admit I wasn't eating dinner on Fridays, he convinced me to have dinner with his family instead.

0000

"I'm home," I call out as I kick my shoes off. I dump my bag by the front door and walk to the kitchen where my mother is cooking dinner.

"How was school?" She asks. I shrug.

"Okay," I mumble and grab a glass from the cupboard. I fill it up with water before quickly leaving the kitchen and heading to my bedroom. Before my mother decided to ruin our family, I would help her with dinner so it was ready when Dad got back from work. Since she decided to tear her family apart, I let her deal with all the house chores. I refuse to help her.

I continue with the homework that I didn't finish as I wait for my mother to call up the stairs to tell me that dinner is ready. As usual, once I'm informed that dinner's ready, I head downstairs and collect my food before bringing it up to my bedroom. We haven't had a family meal in ages.

My phone vibrates on the desk when I place my dinner down on my desk. I pick it up and look to see who has texted me.

From: Light-kun

I know you're eating dinner on your own, maybe just for tonight you could eat it with your mum?

I flip the phone shut and place it back on my desk and continue eating. I know he's just trying to be a good friend.

0000

Friday, 28th November 2003

"Morning, Mana-chan!" Michi greets me as I sit down at my desk. Her shoulder-length black hair is straightened, and her brown eyes are sparkling with excitement as usual. If you're ever having a bad day, Michi knows how to make it brighter. "I'm having a movie-marathon tonight, wanna come? It'll be the last opportunity before our entrance exams!"

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to Light-kun's for dinner." I reply. The smile on her face falls and is replaced with a frown.

"Oh, I swear you're always with Yagami-san. Never mind then, I'm sure I can have another movie-marathon after the entrance exams!" She says enthusiastically before skipping back to her desk. Movie-marathons have always been something that Michi does. She loves films. When we were younger, we would try to stay up past midnight watching films. However, we wouldn't make it past ten o'clock. As we grew older, we started watching horror films. Then we were able to stay up past midnight and have the midnight feast that we had always dreamed about when we were little.

A piece of paper lands on my desk, and I look over to Light-kun, the person who most likely threw it. His face is turned away from me and a smile fights its way onto my face. I open up the piece of paper and look at the message.

Did you just turn down Kimura-san's movie-marathon?

I pull a pen out of my bag and quickly scribble down a reply.

Yes, don't act surprised. I've missed out on a few in the past. If you've forgotten, I'm going to yours for dinner like I do every Friday, dumbass.

I fold the paper back up before tossing it to Light-kun's desk. He sits two rows from the left of me. He's lucky and has a window seat. I quickly look away when the note lands on his desk and pretend I had nothing to do with it.

The piece of paper never returns to my desk as the teacher then strides into the room. The rest of the lesson passes by , as uneventfully as always.

Each lesson passed by quickly, and soon it was the end of the day.

"Manami-chan, you walk ahead, there's something I need to do first." Light-kun tells me as we leave our classroom. I give him a nod before leaving the school on my own. What does he need to do? Maybe he just wants to ask a teacher something.

Dinner, like most of today, was uneventful. Light-kun, however, seemed a little different. His mind seemed to be elsewhere. Something must have happened. He's not normally like this.

"So, how was school today?" Sachiko-san asks us in an attempt to break the silence surrounding the dinner table. Her brown eyes watching Light-kun, Sayu and me closely as we ate. She's probably curious as to why Light-kun and I aren't talking as we usually do most Fridays at dinner.

I swallow the food in my mouth before replying. "It was alright, just like every Friday, I guess." I say with a shrug.

Sayu then begins to talk about how a student at her school got expelled for several reasons. While she talks about this, I watch Light-kun curiously. It's like he's not even listening to what any of us are saying. He's not voicing his opinions on matters as he normally does. Instead, it looks like he's planning something.

After dinner, I help wash up before heading home to prepare for cram school. I hadn't spoken to Light-kun at all, and as soon as we were all finished with dinnner, he ran straight to his room without a word. I was then interrogated by Sachiko-san who's convinced we've had an argument.

What is going on?

Light-kun was the same at cram school. Except for the fact that he was watching the other students. He loomed at some of them as if he wanted to murder them.

What the hell had happened?

A/N: What are your thoughts on this new version of My Friend is Kira? Please leave a review! I would love to know what you think about it, even if it is negative, I appreciate all reviews.

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-AliceLovesCakes